Senior Footballers Fall To Defeat To Tyrone In Omagh

Image courtesy Mark McDonagh

DUBLIN 1-16

TYRONE 2-20

Goals in either half from Darragh Canavan and Michael McKernan helped Tyrone to get the better of Dublin by seven points in their Allianz National Football League Division 1 encounter at Healy Park on Sunday afternoon.

The defeat ended any final ambitions that Dublin may have harboured as they finished the group stages in mid-table on an afternoon that saw Mayo and Kerry advance to next weekend’s decider. 

A brilliant Con O’Callaghan goal in the 11th minute handed Dublin a positive start but Canavan’s goal at the opposite end saw Tyrone build up a 1-14 to 1-4 lead by the interval.

The Dubs largely dominated play in the second-half but only found their shooting boots in the closing stages with a second goal required to mount a comeback proving elusive.

Having played against the elements in the opening half, Dublin’s focus was primarily on damage limitation and they generally coped well in the opening quarter as they restricted their opponents to a large degree.

They proved powerless to prevent Darragh Canavan from opening the scoring in the 3rd minute but a generous amount of possession finally yielded a levelling score from Niall Scully seven minutes later.

Matters improved further for Dublin a minute later as David Byrne’s speculative ball was fielded superbly by O’Callaghan and with Niall Morgan absent from his goal, Dublin’s captain made light work of a tricky finish to push his side three points clear.

That lead didn’t last too long however as a Mattie Donnelly point preceded a Tyrone goal in the 14th minute as Darragh Canavan was on hand to put the finishing touches to an excellent delivery from Darren McCurry.

Scully kicked his second score to restore parity by the end of the first quarter but the hosts gradually got on top through the twin threat of McCurry and Canavan.

McCurry kicked a brace of two pointed scores as his side dominated territory the longer the half evolved with Sean Bugler kicking two points at the opposite end as the Dubs struggled to contain their opponents.

Almost inevitably, it was McCurry and Canavan that tagged on late points for the hosts as they entered the break with a healthy ten-point advantage.

Gavin Sheridan denied Canavan on two occasions in the early stages of the second-half as Dublin struggled to avail of the wind at their backs.

It was left to Bugler to offer some cause for optimism as he kicked a typically classy two-pointed score in the 45th minute but Dublin were failing to translate a generous amount of chances into scores.

Those misses proved fatal to any comeback pretensions that Dublin may have had and their fate was effectively sealed in the 56th minute as McKernan raced through unopposed before firing a precise finish across Sheridan into the far corner of the net.

Granted, Cormac Costello raised some cheer as he kicked a brace of two-pointed scores inside four final-quarter minutes and the Whitehall Colmcille player added another from a free in the 64th minute.

While Lorcan O’Dell and Costello raised two further red flags late on, Tyrone added two points of their own through substitute Ruairí Canavan as they held on with a fair degree of comfort, albeit falling through the relegation trapdoor in the process.

Scorers – Dublin: C Costello 0-8 (2 2pt F, 2 2pt); S Bugler 0-4 (1 2pt); C O’Callaghan 1-0; L O’Dell (1 2pt), N Scully 0-2 apiece. Tyrone: D McCurry 0-9 (3f, 1 2pt F, 1 2pt); D Canavan 1-3; M McKernan 1-0; N Morgan (2 ‘45’s), K McGeary (1 2pt), R Canavan 0-2 each; M Donnelly, P Harte 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: G Sheridan; D Byrne, T Clancy, C Tyrrell; C Murphy, S MacMahon, G McEneaney; B Howard, P Ó Cofaigh Byrne; K McGinnis, S Bugler, N Scully; R McGarry, C O’Callaghan, C Costello. Subs: C Kilkenny for McGinnis (41), L O’Dell for McGarry (43), J Madden for Ó Cofaigh Byrne (44), D Keogh for Scully (56), E O’Donnell for McEneaney (60).  

Tyrone: N Morgan; A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan, R Brennan, K McGeary; B Kennedy, C Fitzpatrick; C Daly, M Donnelly, A Donaghy; P Harte, D McCurry, D Canavan. Subs: S O’Donnell for Donnelly (41), R Canavan for Harte (57), M O’Neill for D Canavan (61), S O’Hare for Donaghy (69).

Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).